Congresswoman wants pensions for top brass rolled back

Jan. 10, 2014
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Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif. / Paul Sakuma, AP

by Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

by Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY

Pensions for three- and four-star generals and admirals should be rolled back to pre-2007 levels, before Congress approved hikes of as much as 63% to the retirement packages of top brass, according to a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Rep. Jackie Speier, D-Calif., said Congress has been too generous on compensation, particularly pensions, putting the Pentagon on a "trajectory that is unsustainable." Unless policy changes, the Pentagon won't be able to pay for guns or ships in 25 years, she said.

Pensions for top brass, she said, are a good place for Congress to start.

"These golden parachutes need to be turned back to sterling silver ones," she said.

USA TODAY reported this week about the changes Congress made to pension rules to boost benefits for three- and four-star admirals and generals. The Pentagon had requested the change in 2003 to help retain senior officers as the military was fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and wanted to entice officers to remain on active duty.

Congress has acted to trim some retirement benefits for the military. Last month's budget deal reduces cost-of-living adjustments, COLAs, by 1 percentage point a year until retirees reach age 62. At 62, the full adjustment will return, and pensions will bounce back to their full value. The plan could save $6 billion, but some members of Congress want it scrapped.

No change has been made to the 2007 law increasing retirement payments to top officers. They make more in retirement than they do in uniform. For instance, a four-star officer retiring with 40 years of experience would receive a pension of $237,144, according to the Pentagon. Base pay for active-duty top officers is $181,501, according to the Pentagon. Housing and other allowances can boost their compensation an additional third.

A few officers top 40 years of service. In 2011, the Pentagon noted that the highest pension, $272,892, was paid to a retired four-star officer with 43 years of service.

Troops deserve the best that can be offered as long as it's affordable, Speier said. She noted that most retired three- and four-star generals and admirals find work in the private sector. Returning to pre-2007 pension benefits would not break faith with them as they joined the services when the lower level of retirement pay was in effect, she said.

If some officers leave because of the change, the military won't be ruined, she said.

"Nobody is indispensable," she said, noting that Gen. David Petraeus, the most celebrated officer of his generation as the former top commander in Iraq and Afghanistan, has retired.

"We survived," she said.

Members of Congress who take on military compensation may face a different fate. Speier acknowledged that returning the pension to pre-2007 levels for top officers will be politically dangerous.

"This is going to be tough one for members to swallow," she said. "We don't have any guts, but we also won't have any weaponry."